KYOTO AND THE RIVER

CHRISTMAS IN JAPAN

OCTOBER,NOVEMBER 2015 CAL-BERKELEY ALUMNI ODYSSEYS TRIP

INTERNATIONAL “INSIDER’S JAPAN” TRIP [See the ourprayergroup.blogspot.com May-June 2015 posting for photos looking up the Arno from Dante’s tower house of “Florence and the River”]

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Kyoto November 2, 3, 4 2015

The Holy Japanese Buddhist city of Kyoto is surrounded by three mountains and protected in the four directions, with  the Kamo [duck] river, the “heart of Kyoto” flowing through it from North to South. To the south the city is protected by Suzaku, the Vermillion or Red Phoenix. To the North, Genbu the black tortoise [a Chinese Qi-Qong animal deity conveying longevity].  Qi-Qong is set of ancient Chinese standing postures that form the foundational training for much of the Tai-Chi fighting positions which were developed later by the Chinese Army generals and Taoist priesthood. To the East is Seiryou, the Blue or Azure dragon who conveys good fortune.  To the west is Byakko, the white tiger.  For a discussion of how the standing meditation and breathing “five animal frolic” postures of Qi –Qong enter into Tai-Chi martial arts training see our discussion of the theological foundations and basic study references of  modern Tai-Chi in our 2015-2016 prayer calendar posted late last year on this blog.

What is the seed concept of God’s Righteousness as explained in the Christian Jewish Bible?

For a four-fold prayer song meditation of protection and prosperity to our Christian God, I like the following prayer of my friends at Unity School of Christianity [ it is also compatible metaphysically with the Upanishads concept of  a metaphysical five fold Objective World Creator God who our long-time Hindu prayer friends call Brahma]

“May the Light of God surround you [Kyoto],  [The Divine Light of the One increasing]

May the Love of God enfold you, [The Divine two-fold Love of the One without a second]

May the Power of God protect you, [The Divine three-fold Light of the transforming of God’s Oneness, Him or Her]

May the Presence of God watch over you” [The four-fold Divine Light of the of our discrimination between our human intellects and God’s]

And, why does this four-fold in five dimensions expression of Divine Light of us representing Him or Her righteously appear in this Divine Order?

His or Her Omnipotence requires His or Her Omnipresence to happen.

And, His or Her Omnipresence requires His or Her Omnipotence to happen.

And, His or Her Continuance of themselves [ourself], requires wisdom and understanding of the expansion in Time of us as having a Son or Daughter, uniquely.

The riverbanks are popular walking spots for residents.  There are pathways running along the river on which one can walk along the river and stepping stones that cross the river. One of the best ways to see it is with a rented bicycle. But, be careful cycling. Pay for a local guide. If you don’t have a guide you can use the “Kyoto Cycling Map” available at one of Kyoto bicycle rental hub stations.

  
It was modeled on the Tang Chinese city of Chang-an and the site considered  ideal by Emperor Kanmu’s geomancers.  Stones were placed in the building of the city with precisely aligned “gnomon”, an ancient Greek Pythagorean square mathematically related to the design of astronomical instruments [sundials]. Purification fountains near the four gates to the city were also constructed in Temple grounds. This Chinese sense of sacred geometry and the use of divination by the stars can also be found in the design or layout of ancient city of Nara, Japan.

  

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Looking southward along the Kamo river from the same bridge where the picture taken above was snapped. The city of Kyoto is widely known for its many types of craft goods of exceptional artistry including Kyo pottery, hand-painted silks, lacquer ware, display dolls, woodblock prints, fans, umbrellas, Noh masks, lanterns, and more. I bought, for two of my friends in Vicksburg, two fans and a woodblock print containing an ancient scheme in the Heian capital.

  

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Kodaiji Temple, Kyoto, Monday, November 2, 2015

Our knowledgeable and thoughtful mistress of tea ceremony serves us tea. In the background our well-prepared, thoughtful and experienced Insider’s Japan Tour Director Mr. Sammy[Sammasan]Tanida oversees the event.  Sammasan met our group at the Narada Airport and safely led us through the interesting two weeks in Japan with many interesting discussions of Japanese history and culture.

The young lady performing the complicated ritual of the ceremony explained to us that is not about any theology but only about learning how to transmit kindness to others by being careful and mindful in our actions expressing love that gives (grace).

As opposed to the Christian Eucharist, in the tea ceremony the mistress is allowed to discuss things during it and not just repeat a fixed formula of actions. I asked the young lady, during the ceremony, if she had a faith. She said, "I believe in faith". I then said, “If you believe in Faith, then Faith believes in you.”

It is an interesting question to ask Buddhist’s relative to the tea

ceremony, whether they believe that the “Buddha nature” can be transmitted in the tea ceremony [as the Christ nature can be transmitted in the Eucharist].  Most Christians believe that the “real” body of  the Lord Jesus Christ is present in the Eucharist as an “instantiation or incarnation of His logical nature, His Word or His Logos”. Many qualify this further requiring it to be administered under a  “general [at least two or three of us gathered together in His Name] confession of belief in Him”.

Also, for His or Her spiritual body to realize itself in us as a transmission of God’s nature, it must administered by a sincere and well meaning believing representative of either of Them [Our Father in Heaven or His Son]. Normally I think you will find that Buddhists do not talk about or claim this as Christians do in our communion service. In my opinion this makes Christianity more a religion of love and compassion, for its devoted followers, than Buddhism. But it is often said by Buddhists that the Buddha nature is present in everyone and consists of mindfulness and emptiness of mind. The Buddha nature is like that of a new-born child reflecting mentally but not conceptually. But how can we give it and share it if we don’t believe it can be transmitted in something like the tea ceremony?  Aside from these considerations I accepted the gift of love I received in the above ceremony from those performing the ceremony as important and helpful to me as many of that which I have received in Christian Churches.

  

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Kinkaku-ji, the lakeside Temple of the Golden Pavilion originally constructed in the 14^th century as a retirement villa and later converted to a temple. It is one of the current centers and headquarters of the “Pure Land” Sect of Zen Buddhism in Japan. Burned to the ground by a fanatic in 1950, the temple has been entirely reconstructed following the original design, and is covered in gold leaf from Kanazawa (a city up the coast which our Cal-Berkeley group visited a  few days earlier which is famous for gold leaf production) all the way to its upper floors. Its setting on pillars suspeneded over the water makes it one of Kyoto’s most inspired-and inspiring sights.

  

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Water flowing between rocks on a rainy day toward the end of the walking path of the Golden Pavillion Temple.

For those of you who have a piano in your home and like to play Gospel Hymns on it, I recommend the following hymn to go with thinking about this picture:

"Like a River Glorious"
by Francis R. Havergal, 1876

"Like a river glorious is God's perfect peace,
Over all victorious,in its bright increase;
Perfect, yet it floweth, fuller every day,
Perfect, yet its growth, deeper all the way."

a sheet music piano score arrangement of its various harmonies by Lloyd Larsen is available from www.Lorenz.com
in "Gospel Hymns We Love" 

1) "Be free where you are[you have enough]"
2) "[Be]Go as a river"
3) "Are you sure?" [Yes]
4) "Go to the other shore[the most beautiful place in heaven is on earth]"
 5) "Present moment wonderful moment [solid as a mountain, still water reflecting, fresh as a flower, free as space] "
6)"Be alive in the miracle, Be beautiful, Be True, Be Compassionate"
7) "This is a legendary moment"

Seven steps in the Zen Calligraphy of TNH see below for reference

  

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The Garden of sand and rocks (kare sansui) in the 16^th Century Ryoan-Ji Temple (ca. 1540) in Kyoto, Japan’s capital from 794 to 1868. The simplicity of its rocks belies a complex symbolism which its designer never revealed. In Zen Buddhism the importance of  zazen or sitting still and meditating  on our human immediate rather than conceptual experiences is stressed [I bought the well written book “How to Zazen “ by Shoda Harada at the Temple Souvenir stand… cg also the ourprayergroup.blogspot.com discussion during our travels in Thailand of the Buddha’s sutra on the 16 steps of mindfulness  and also in the Tanzania travels blog Lynne Brown of the Unity School of Christianity’s 12 steps].  Both Christian and Buddhist methods and approaches can help us understand the importance of correct breathing for our meditations and contemplations].  


Be free where you are. Go to the other shore. The most beautiful place in heaven is on earth.
Be Alive Beautiful. Be True. Be Compassionate. @AndrewWHarrell twitter

We can't do anything if God is to save us, but if we know we are already saved, we can help Him or Her redeem,justify,sanctify us.  @AndrewWHarrell twitter

When the seed of God's Truth inside of us falls to the ground... the most beautiful place in heaven is on earth. Jesus Christ for St. Andrew

At the end of the book Mr. Harada gives several prayer chants using only Japanese syllables. One reason for this he says is that the efficient cause of the prayers being answered is only the sounds in the letters.
But, I know from long study of Hindu Sanskrit chants, that understanding the meaning is important too.

So, after looking up on Wikipedia one devotional prayer mantra from the book, here is my commented translation into of it  into Sanskrit and English.
It is addressed to the Boddhisattwa [knower about knowing] Avalokishwara [Lord of knowing whose spirit looks down inside of us in order to be compassionate] :

The Blue necked Dharani [meditative part of a prayer mantra]

Namo ratna-trayaya
(Hallowed be the Name of the Triple Gem on which we are going to use to meditate]

Nama aryavalokite-svaraya bodhisattvaya maha-sattvay maha-karunikaya
(Hallowed be the noble heavenly Lord who looks down inside of us as an enlightened sentient being,
you are a great and merciful being)

Here Christian Jews who are bold enough might want to substitute the phrase 
"The One Buddha who is God's Son Christ Jesus"

OM [pranava the Holy Spirit flowing through the 2nd Chakra watery letter va, a name of God]!
Having paid adoration to One who dispels all fears, the noble Avalokitesvara, adoration to the blue-necked one ... located in the 5th chakra counting upward from the root)

Hrdayam vartayisyam sarvartha sadhanam subham ajeyam sarva bhutanam bhava marga visodhakam

(I shall enunciate the heart dharani [meditation] which ensures all purpose, is pure and invincible for all beings, and which purifies the path of existence...here is one that I imagine St. Andrew and St. Mary would meditate on if they wanted God to help them create Christ Jesus together and bring His Soul and Spirit back down to earth from heaven:

a) If you cannot find God inside of the human heart you cannot find Him anywhere.
b)But, if you can find Him there, you can find Him anywhere
c) He is The Word, The Logos, coming from far away, across the river, on another shore, who lives eternally before all creation, independently of any idol that dwells in our human hearts.)


Tadyatha: OM Alokadhipati lokatiranta
(Like this: OM! Lord of Efflugence, the World-Transcending One.)

Ehy maha-bodhisattva sarpa-sarpa smara smara hrdayam
(Come, great bodhisattva, descend, descend. Please remember (smari) my heart dharani).

Kuru-kuru karma dhuru-dhuru vijayate maha-vijayate
(Do, do the work. Hold fast, hold fast, Victory to the great Victor)
Sri Ram, jaya Ram, jaya, jaya ,jaya Ram.  Andrew Harrell's additional comment added at this point

Dhara-dhara dharini-raja cala-cala mama vimala-murte
(Hold on, hold on. King of the Dharini. Move, move onto my spotless image.)

Ehi ehi chinda chinda aras pracali vasa-vasam pranasaya
(Come, come, the vow, the vow of the adamantine[mountain-top*] king, destroy, destroy every poison)

* my comment
Hulu-hulu smara hulu-hulu Sara-Sara Siri-Siri suru-suru
(Quick, quick, please remember quick, quick. Descend-descend, descend-descend, descend-descend*)
the names of three Hindu goddesses are invoked here in order to link up with three divine, devas, or knowers of knowledge in the lower chakras...Sara...as in Sarah the princess wife of Abraham,
Siri...as in the person you ask questions to on your I-phone, suru...phonetic only and as far and as I can understand, untranslatable.)

Bodhiya-bodhiya bodhaya-bodhaya maitriya Nilakantha [dehi me] darsanam
(Being enlightened, being enlightened; enlighten me, enlighten me. Merciful Blue-necked One appear unto me).

Praharayamanaya svaha siddhaya svaha maha-siddhaya svaha siddhayogisvaraya svaha
(To you [the almost omnipresent thousand eyed one] who sees us, hail! To the Successful [Peaceful and self-realized] One, hail! To the Great Successful One[the almost omnipresent thousand handed one], hail! To the successful Lord of the Yogis, hail!)

Nilakanthaya svaha varaha-mukhaya svaha narasimha-mukhaya svaha
(To the Blue-necked one (Nilakantha), hail! To the Boar-faced One, hail! To Man-Lion faced One, hail!)
In the third chapter of the Sutras of Patanjali it is explained how the throat center, 5th chakra in our spiritual body, is a center of spiritual power... eg. we can overcome thirst and hear supernatural sounds by doing Samadhi (three-fold concentrated prayer and meditation using the gifts divine spiritual understanding and wisdom that God gives us.. on it)
The Boar is the incarnation of Vishnu in the 2nd chakra that digs downward in our human and divine experiences and knowledge in order to uncover new spiritual food...through good works, love, faith and hope .
The Man-Lion is Narasimha [he who "places things"as distinguished for instance of holding things or remembering things in Nara.. or man... when I think about Him I think of the important Hebrew prayer and blessing..."May He [YHWH Sabbaoth] who places Peace in high places, place His Peace in us."
Gada-hastaya svaha cakra-hastaya svaha padma-hastaya svaha
(To one who bears the mace (nada, sceptre, rod of iron) in his hand [see the Book of Revelations, Chapter 2 gifts of God to the Church of Thyatira  upon His second coming by He who has eyes that flash like a flame of fire, and Whose feet glow like bright and burnished bronze], hail! To the holder discus [He who turns the wheel of God's dharma[righteousness] in his hand, hail! To one who holds [sports] a lotus* in his hand, hail!]

* of happiness,  Andrew's comment
Nilakantha-pandaraya svaha Mahatali Sankaraya svaha
(To the Blue-necked One smeared (with holy ashes),hail! To the mighty suspicious one, hail!)

Closing
Namo ratna-trayaya Nama aryavalokite-svaraya bodhisattvaya svaha
(Adoration to the Triple gem, adoration to the noble Avalokitesvara (Lord who looks down),
the enlightened being, hail!)



Also as I practice Tai Chi I like to practice Qi-Qong or correct standing posture and breathing first. I like to stand in my front yard practicing.

Preliminary Qi-Qong Self-defense conversational sequence to  help in being able to keep standing still in the front yard of 3000 Drummond St.:


                    5 conversational prayer steps to achieve 5 ways of having 5 goods:

 1) As people walk by they sometime ask “How are you?” Asking this as if “why are you just standing there in your yard, not doing anything?" 

2) Most of the time I practice just not replying at  all to this. But, sometimes if it is a friend or someone I want to have a conversation with I say, “ I AM good if you are, are you good?”

3)a  Then, if they are kind enough to reply, “I AM good”, I say “that makes three of us”.  Explanation, the three goods, The Triple Gem, are:
 [1) you, 2)me, and 3)knowing the fact that we both are good.]

3)b If they remain silent, staying contemptuous I have the option to say,
 "Didn't anyone ever tell you, that you have to be good.?"

4) One reply might be "yes, since I was a child, and doing things that way hasn't worked out for me very well."

5)A good Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim person should then say compassionately, "I am sorry that's the case, how can I help, maybe by slowing things down, praying, meditating, and discussing things together, with God's help, we can improve both our situations?"

And, since we now have a five-fold prayer meditation scheme, 1)you being good, 2)me being good, 3) the two of us knowing that we are good, 4)God being good, 5)our prayer being a good prayer according to God's Bible teaching, "Wherever two or three of you are gathered together in my Name, I will answer and fulfill, the prayer" the prayers that have been 1)asked should be 2)heard, 3)answered, 4) fulfilled, and 5) we will have the experience of the realization of fulfillment of them.

As a Christian we stress the importance of meditating and contemplating on the “Word”, “God’s Word”, which is conceptual. Both approaches can be very helpful to us. But, if you need an individual God instead of yourself as an individual human being and an impersonal Holy Spiritr to help you, the Christian approach is to be preferred.

 
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In the Book of Genesis, Chapter 1, God, acting as Elohim or the natural Divine mind of us all, created the Universe in seven days using His Word along with contemplative mediations on it as it realized itself, and other methods. Then, in Chapter 2, using the name of the Divine individual YHWH Adonai,  and  Conceptual Spirit of His Son YHWH Elohim Adonai and YHWH Adonai Elohim, he became a Trinitarian Spirit of Truth dwelling forever in us all.

First group of 5 rocks, at the left or east:

The garden of  the Chinese parable of “Tigress who crossed the water with a panther cub”  or the garden of “Shichi-Go-San” ( which translated means 7-5-3 in Japanese) in the Ryoanji  Zen Buddhist Temple in Kyoto. The garden is paved with raked white sand in which 15 rocks are arranged in five groups of 5,2,3,2, and 3 rocks laid out from east to west. 15, by the way, it also the number associated with the value of the letters in the word JAH, our Hebrew God of natural spiritual Truth.

If you want to be both a mathematician and theologian [something that is not easy in the last two centuries for reasons discussed earlier in the blog this year and last] is helps to understand Plato's Pythagorean theories and teachings. See for instance, "The Pythagorean Plato: A Prelude to the Song Itself" by McClain or Theon of Smyrna's secret doctrine reference.  Or, there is the magnificent book, "The Temple of Man" by R.A. Schwaller de Lubicz that is full of information showing and indicating that the main source of this mathematical theology was the Egyptians and not the Greeks.
If God created the integers, how did he do it? Why... he did it by creating the abstract monad, which is the first abstract principle of number [and the concrete number one]. Things that have a monad have both a beginning and an end, like a circle. He created the principle of twoness, of discrimination and of death, and the concrete number two also. He created a successor number formula to generate new numbers one more than the previous. He created the principle of threeness, which contains a way to backtrack in your counting of numbers [categorically speaking] so we can think backward in time while we reason logically. He created odd and even numbers [their principle and a formula for their instantiations]. He created prime and composite numbers [their principle and a formula for their instantiations], equally-equal, unequilaterial and parallelogrammatic numbers,oblong numbers, triangular numbers, the method of obtaining them and other polygonal numbers in general, perfect number like the number six and the method of obtaining them.

In Japanese rock gardens the large irregular rock usually refers to the Buddha and is called the “Buddha” rock. The odd numbers eg. 1,3,5,7 are considered more perfect numbers than the even, eg. 2,4,6,8 in Japanese Buddhist theology. A Japanese pagoda, for instance, has 5 levels.  Why 5 and not 3 or 7? Interesting, maybe because there are five different elements in the physical world (metal, water, fire, air, wood)?

One Buddhist interpretation of the parable might relate to integers associated with some subset of the 37 bodhipakkhiya dharma, components or different "factors" of enlightenment as explained by TNH
[as I call my prayer partner the Reverend Thich Nhat Hanh who I like to think of as the Christian Jewish Angel Saint Noah, the second Shepherd of Israel positioned from right to left on my eight branched Angel Tree Menorah that I light every Hanukah in order to help God place Peace in High Places in the soul of all Israel ]in the appendix to his book "Breathe You are Alive".

Here are some eight-day meditations for Hanukah that you can use to light your own Hanukah, angel tree, taken from a prayer poem I wrote to tie us all in love and trust for as long as we are true to God and God is true to us] and have been meditating on for 20 years or so ago:

Lighting of the 1st candle [the rightmost which is connected forward to the last] of Hanukah Menorah: Mindfulness and faith are reflections of two truths

Lighting of the 2nd candle of Hanukah Menorah [which is connected forward to the next to last]:
Truth is heart that is open and believes in what is right for all of us

Lighting of the 3rd candle of Hanukah Menorah [which is connected forward to the third from last]:

"When God is One and Two, and the Truth of God is One, that's Three Truths"  @AndrewWHarrell twitter posting.

"When Two or Three of you are gathered together in My Name, I AM there."
Good News [Gospel] promise of Jesus Christ


Lighting of the 4th candle of Hanukah Menorah [which is connected forward to the fourth from last]:
Beauty is a reflection of what is good.

Goodness is love that gives [grace]"Truth is Beauty, Beauty Goodness, Goodness Truth,

that is part of us [God's part] we know,
and that [this part of what we need to know inside of us]
 inside of Him in us."

Andrew Harrell

" I  now am wise, I now am true,
Patient, kind and loving too.
All things, I am, can do, and be
Through Christ, the Truth
that is in me."

"God is my[your] health, I can't be sick;
God is my[your] strength,
unfailing, quick:
God is my all; I know no fear,
Since God and love and Truth are here."

Selection from The Prayer of Faith
 Hannah More Kohaus
Unity School of Christianity

Along with God (Who can be wisdom and spiritual understanding inside of humankind,
if need be)
we can understand that the Great Ideas of Justice, Freedom, Equality are important too:

Lighting of the 5th candle of Hanukah Menorah [which connected back to the 4th]
God that is who He is and knows no limits (is faithful toward our hopes and prayers, yet still what He or She is until that knowledge instantiates, becomes true, blossoms in us).

Lighting of the 6th candle of Hanukah Menorah [which is connected back to the 3rd]
Jesus Christ [Christ Jesus] is He or She who is the Prince of Peace, healing and saving us all [being what we need Him to be in order to do this by sanctifying the Name of  God dwelling inside of us. God has no Son or Daughter but Him or Her.

Lighting of the 7th candle of Hanukah Menorah [which is connected back to the 2nd]
The Holy Spirit is a heart that listens, eyes and ears that see and hear what is good, a mouth that speaks what is good, and true, and kind, strong arms and legs that lift up the fallen, walk along with them and lead them in the right direction

Lighting of the 8th candle of Hanukah Menorah [which is connected back to the 1st]



You can fill in here, at this point, what God is now saying to you to help us all through you.

For even more details about how to meditate and pray contemplatively using these complicated Buddhist Christian meditations on Avalokyshwara, Narayana, and more see the http://www.yhwhschofchrist.org/prayers/index.cgi  long time prayer postings in the Buddhist Prayer Form "Who is the One Buddha who is God's Son, Christ Jesus postings.
These along with the 10 components of the problematical situation are

1) 5+5 internal formations and roots of affliction in our human divine souls

37 components of awakening
1) 4 establishments of mindfulness
2) 4 right efforts
a)not to allow any occasion for wrongdoing to to arise, b) once it has arisen to put an end to it, c) to cause right action to arise when it has not already arisen, d) to find ways to develop right action and make it lasting once it has arisen
3) 4 bases of success
4)  5 human divine faculties
5) 5 human divine powers
    a) confidence, b) energy, c) meditative stability, d) meditative concentration,e)true understanding
6)  7 factors of awakening
    a) full attention, b) investigating dharmas, c)energy, d) joy, e)ease,f)concentration, g)letting go
7)  8 steps in the eightfold path
(three of which are related to this problem are right intention, right mindfulness, right meditative concentration

But, as a Christian Jew I do not believe that this would explain everything.

Some of the world’s first mathematicians, the Greek Pythagoreans believed numbers to be divine beings each of which are divine steps in the creation of the World.

In the nineteenth century the German mathematician Kronecker made his famous statement, “ God created the integers and all else is the work of man.”

To have a correct Christian Jewish statement I believe you have to modify this a little and say,

“ God created the integers and his Son, the Word, created time.”

But, if you believe that the  achievement of our human understanding of time was a manifestation not a creation of reality both ways of looking at things are consistent with each other.

 “One, Two, Three, Infinity!”

integers and rational numbers  1^st discrete power of us being able to count

1 squared + 2 squared = square root 5 squared

irrational numbers  2^nd power of the continuum, the power of manifesting [not creating] reality and time

  

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For some more Buddhist theological thoughts on calligraphy see "The Zen Calligraphy of Thich Nhat Hanh." available at amazon.com  "The way out is in"  "This moment is full of wonders" "emptiness" "singleness" "the miracle is to be alive" "be still and heal" "healing is in every step" .

This yogic mystic tantric pythagorean breathing meditation shown above (two triangles in the heart inside of a circle and one inside a square inside a circle at the lower point) depicts the movement of breath (Hari OM Tat Sat) represented in terms of secondary level mental wirings [pathways] in the brain by the help of the para-sympathetic nervous system. This seed pathways for numeric form [sense impression of something that occupies space] and makes up a set [collection of objects have form in space] . This higher level definition of numbers, as concepts, moves down from right nostril in the 2nd chakra (Ajna) in the head into  the lower chakra (4th chakra Anahata in the heart) and 1st (root or Muladhara) inside the spiritual body of the meditator. Following the movement of the breath outside and upward from the head and the heart is depicted using a circle inside of a triangle inside of a circle.  The circle [which can be thought of as having an end in a beginning and a beginning in an end] as discussed in our May posting about the trip to Florence was studied in Galileo's era as a form of representing movement eternally outside of time, as a line [having a beginning and going to an end] usually  represents moment inside of time.  The triangle represents a category of thought in which one can go backwards and forwards in time from the number one [Our Father] and the number two [His Son] into the number three [Their twofold Holy Spirit dwelling in us]. The square represents breath and thought proceeding righteously with wisdom and spiritual understanding out in four directions in space and also time.

In this particular calligraphic meditation scheme we are not representing the knowledge and spiritual understanding as traveling outwardly in time sempiternally [an adjective meaning everlastingly and eternally as this knowledge travels through time] from the Yogi attempting to represent God in the world to us but inwardly as a "seed thought" understanding Him or Her dwelling inside of our spiritual self during this part of the yearly Christian Jewish Biblical liturgy. Even, as Jesus Christ told St. Andrew to let happen to him as he meditating of God's Word dwelling in us and Him during this part of the year.

Heraclitus believed that the alternation between even and odd number types had to do with the dynamic generation of the world. “You cannot go in the same river twice”, he said. Also, Parmenides studied quite profoundly the idea of the dynamic nature of Oneness [the first odd number].

“How do we define the Number One.” I gave a talk on this at several MS Academy of Science annual conventions. The talks are posted at our website’s discussion board under the science and religion sub-directory.

 

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One explanation of the rocks placed just as you see in the sand, is given in the temple picture booklet, purchased at the souvenir stall located behind the sitting platform where this sequence of pictures was taken.

 

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Moving [looking] to the right, west, is the second group of 2 rocks: Third group of 3 rocks were not photographed.

“If a tigress gives birth to three cubs, one will be a panther. Panthers are ferocious and will eat other tiger cubs left on their own. That is why when the tigress must cross a river with her three cubs, she carries the panther cub across first. Then she goes back and carries the first tiger cub across. On the return trip, she carries the panther cub back across the river, leaves it on the river bank, and carries the second tiger cub across the river. Finally, she goes back and carries the panther cub across the river again.”

For me this parable, talks about how the One Buddha manifests, creates, begets, makes his disciples and as His unique Trinitarian Son and Holy Ghost.  [God’s Only Son, Christ Jesus]. It teaches the important truth about the need for “backtracking” the mental knowledge network search process for the best or optimal Truth that creates  or instantiates Him or Her inside of us.

  

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Fourth group of 2 rocks and fifth group of 3 rocks.

CALLING

  a Poem by Ralph Spalding Cushman

taken from a Pocket Prayer Book and Devotional Guide Methodist Board of Evangelism 1941.

“I have heard it in the mountains,

I have heard it in the sea,

Where the plains are vast, and vaster.

I have heard it calling, calling, every calling unto me!”

“In the nighttime I have heard it,

Through the darkness and the gloom,

In the morning where the sunrise

Bursts in splendor through my room.”

“Oh, what is that is calling,

In the mountains, by the sea,

In the nighttime, in the daytime,

Ever calling unto me.?”

“Oh, my soul, and can it be

It is God, and He is calling,

Ever calling, calling, calling,

Ever calling unto me.

“  R.S.C.

  

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October 31, 3015 In Kanawasa, Japan, a culturely rich mid-size city on Japan’s west coast we visited the renowed Kenrokuen Garden, a national landmark whose origins date to 1676. One of Japan’s three finest gardens traditional gardens, Kenrokuen (Garden of six attributes) represent the the six qualities required for the perfect garden These attributes are 1)extensiveness, 2)factitiousness(manmade), 3)antiquity, 4) water, 5) wide prospect, and 6) quiet seclusion. Its trees, ponds, waterfalls, and flowers stretch over grounds of 25 acres.

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October 30, 2015  Shirakawago Gassho-Zukuri Village a  UNESCO World Heritage site on the tour road in a Japanese mountain river valley between Takayama and Kanazawa.  This village was razed and relocated from its original site in order to build a large dam on the river [the Miboro Dam, Japan’s first and largest dam built with rock-fill technology” that uses only stones and clay. Japanese homes did not have brick fireplaces to keep everybody warm in the winter, but “hibachi’s” like this one with a beautiful wall  art decoration behind it in the center of this thatched roof home’s living room. The village we visited was a vibrant community whose resident’s work together to this day to preserve the Gassho-style architecture unique to the region.

  

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On Tuesday, November 2, 2015 our group took the train from Kyoto to Nara, an ancient capitol  (from 710 to 784) of Japan. As discussed earlier its city plan has  rectangular checkerboard pattern based on the Chinese city of Ch’ang-an. We walked around the Deer Park entrance area to the Todai-ji Buddhist Temple dating to 752 and feed the sacred deer that run free. The  Tendai sect of Mahayana Buddha statue in the Temple is of Vairochana Buddha [not Shakyamuni  the historical Gautama Buddha or Amitabha Buddha of the pure land sect].  Pure Land Buddhism is a variation of Zen Buddhism and also the Tendai sect of Buddhism which concentrates more on devotion than the contemplation in ordinary Zen Buddhism. The Buddha can also be considered as a man [not as God] the worship of which as a statue would violate the Ten Commandments. We know however, that there is no such thing as “just a man”. But, as men and women of God we are never by ourselves completely, but have God as a part of us  always in all circumstances. Buddhism does not have an idea of The Trinity that Christianity has. The Vairochana Buddhas does not exist in Time like our Christian Trinity does in God’s Unique Son.  He also does not have the important attribute of “Self Existence” as our Christian Jewish God does. So, it is somewhat harder to understant him than Jesus Christ.

The huge golden idol in the temple is a  Japanese national treasure and probably won’t ever need to be destroyed as it is genuine creative work of art and generates a lot of tourist money.

But, for Japanese Christians who believe in the Bible it should not be worshiped as a deity, or the deity,  our God, or even as an outside representation of another idol supposedly representing God and hidden somewhere back inside the temple, as is sometimes said by the local priests.

The sacred deer as said to be believed to be “divine messengers” by Buddhist priests. Can animals be “divine messengers…i.e. angels?” It is an interesting theological question. If they can I wonder what the message is that God is trying to tell us through them?

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October 27, 2015

Ms Koshun Masunaga, one of Japans preminent calligraphers, helps me learn the

ancient art.  She asked me for a “seed thought” to begin the writing and painting while she  dipped the brushes in the different coloured ink and directed my hands to do the writing. I said “Christmas in Japan” [It was October but being a Christina Jew I believe that Jesus comes as Christ the King during Rosh Hashanah and Succos, in addition to Christ the New born child in December]!. “Joy to the World, our Lord has come”. Her assistant holds up the result of our creation that we made together.

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October 25,26, 27 Tokyo

Tokyo is a vast metropolis compromising 23 wards and 26 cities with a population of 13 million residents, and 844 square miles. The greater Tokyo area consists of ore than 35 million the most populous metropolitan area in the world. Amazingly, it has endured earthquakes, fires, and the U.S. air raids of World War II to emerge as one of the world’s leading cities.

A photo above shows a field of multi-coloured wildflowers in a downtown Tokyo park, near our “Park” Hotel. 

 

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The next photo is a more typical glimpse of modern-day Japan's concrete, asphalt, and glass office buildings, media centers, hotels, a bustling commercial center with enormous skyscrapers, a complex network of continually evolving patterns of streets and highway overpasses, designed, constructed, redesigned, reconstructed along with newer multilevel pathways through pedestrian and vehicular streets, train and bus stations, taxi stands,  fish markets, food stalls, urban elementary and high schools, subways, elevated electrical trains, with traffic flowing at all levels, department stores, cultural museums, universities, interior food malls, upscale restaurants, discount shopping arcades, sit-down lunch delicatessens,  stand-up and eat noodle stands, from the window of my room in the Park Hotel. On Monday we visited the Meiji Shrine, a peaceful enclave of Shinto temples and gardens dedicated to the late 19^th century Emperor Meiji and his wife. As our guide Sammasan talked to us about it I noticed that he used the description “deities” of the temple. We should clap our hands to if we want to approach the temple entrance. For a Christian Jew who believes in One God, we do not use the term “deities”, but Saints.  There is an slight, but important difference here in the logic of the grammar of what we say we are talking about. This is because, as commanded to us by God in the Ten Commandments, we do not worship multiple instantiations of him in different bodily or stone images. However, as a Protestant Christian I believe it is helpful to pay honor to and worship, see the Christ in, multiple instantiations  of Him inside of One Person (Himself) who can even dwell inside of each of us as a Holy Spirit in many different religions.

  

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Our Cal-Berkeley Alumni group posing behind the mat containing the calligraphic equipment:

Back row, left to right: Nancy Wood of New York, NY, Andrew Harrell, Vicksburg, MS

1st and 2^nd row, left to right:  Barbara and Edmond Czerwinski, Trukee, CA, James and Diana Bittle, Centennial, CO, Madeleine Stephens, Mary Ann Thurmond, Thomas Thurman, Bernard Tagholm Vacaville, CA and Concord, CA, Meryl and Raymond Daniels, Los Angeles, CA, Lawrence Logan and Linda  Donnels, Sante Fe, NM, Oliver and joan Mellows, Oakland, CA, Charles Berman, New York, NY.

Kneeling in front of us our famous calligraphy teacher MS Koshun  Masunaga.

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On Wednesday October 28, we travelled by the bullet train and motorcoach [after a leisurely boat rid on Ashi Lake] to Mt. Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park. One of the most photographed sites in the world. It last erupted in 1707 and the resulting ash reached all the way to Tokyo. At this mountain lodge. At the 5^th station of the ascent, there is a restaurant with a display of the 37-views of Mt. Fuji by the famous Japanese artist.  Katsushika Hokusai [for a discussion of his works see the well-done Great Course, Understanding Japan, A Cultural History by Mark J. Ravina]. It is 12,388 ft. high.

 

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When I was a freshman and junior at Vanderbilt U. in the late 1960s I was fortunate enough to eat breakfast most mornings at the table in Rand Hall of Professor Alexander Marchant who taught the introduction of Western Civilizations Course for all freshman. Professor Marchant a wondelful, kind man and good history teacher believed himself to also be a teacher of amateur philosophy and theology [he was a profound atheist believing in the writings and philosophic arguments of Bertrand Russell] He liked to play the role of Socrates as he discussed philosophy with young students in his courses.  One morning I was sitting at the breakfast table and he asked, “Who are you?” For about 30 minutes I tried to answer him philosophically in terms of whether I was a soul, a body, a spirit. Every answer I gave he refuted by explaining to me quite clearly why that couldn’t be the case.  I was trembling with fear, because I couldn’t answer the question satisfactory. Finally I came up with the words, I am Andrew Harrell. He reluctantly accepted the answer.

Now it is possible, to understand this looking with the benefit of what I have learned in the meantime about these arguments for atheism. They are based on the fact of so much empirical evidience to the contrary and partly on a logical refutation of some of Thomas Aquinas’ rational arguments for believing God to exist. These 20 century positivist philosophers that we discussed then do not, I believe, have as much credence nowadays in the philosophic community. I think a lot of them were discredited by Dr. Mortimer Adler in his wonderlful book written in the 1980s, “How to Think about God” and his discussions on public television then.

I signed the guestbook  at the mountain restaurant in English where everyone else had written a saying in Japanese, I address this heart dharani to the One Buddha who is God's Son, Christ Jesus, and who dwells inside of those who call upon Him.

“In order to follow God more closely, do the most hopeful thing.

In order to see Him more clearly, believe the most faithful thing.”

Is such policy feasible, even for someone like President Obama deciding whether or not to use ground troops in Syria to defeat Isis?  When it comes to the security of US citizens we can't take any chances. But, when actually believe through our faith, that what God is telling us to do is"the most hopeful thing" the course of actions that trusts in Him more than in ourselves...then as one of our favorite hymns goes "Our hope is built on nothing less than God's righteousness."

From here we continued on to the town of Suwa in heart of the Japanese alps where we stayed at a tradional ryokun [150 year old Japanese mountain inn with a peaceful Japanese garden, used for weddings] where we savored a tradional tea followed by a dinner featuring dishes using fresh local ingredients, and slept peacefully on a  futon[sleeping mat on the floor in a room of serene minimalist Japanese design…some words borrowed from the Odyessey’s Unlimited participant tour itinerary] .